A planetarium is a facility for the display of celestial bodies. For almost a century, planetariums have employed analog projection systems, sometimes referred to as an opto-mechanical star ball or globe. The star ball shines rays of light either through apertures and/or lenses onto a surface. In some cases, the surface is the concave surface formed by the ceiling or inner surface of a dome. This projector would typically be centrally located with respect to the dome in order to project an accurate image throughout the dome. In general, the apertures and/or lenses are defined within a star field plate, which sets the relative positions of the depicted celestial bodies. Such devices may be gear driven about gimbaled axes to simulate the natural Keplerian patterns of celestial bodies in a desired movement with appropriate relative positions. In this way, different times, latitudes, orbital variables, etc., may be illustrated.
Early alternatives to opto-mechanical projection systems involved film display and wide angle lenses. Recently, digital projectors have begun to replace opto-mechanical devices. Some digital projectors are centrally located and project light onto the dome using a fish-eye lens. Others are located off-center and cast images onto the ceiling via reflection off an optically centered hemispheric mirror. In either case, they can create a vacancy in the center of the planetarium where the large opto-mechanical device used to be.
Thus, conventional planetarium projection systems generally include: (i) systems with a centrally located opto-mechanical star ball that projects points of light representing stars and discs of light representing planets, moon, and sun, onto the concave side of a white-painted dome-shaped ceiling; (ii) systems with a centrally located (or slightly off-center) digital projector with a fish-eye lens that projects digital images onto said dome; and (iii) systems with one or more peripherally located digital projectors that project a computer-warped digital image via a reflection off a hemispheric mirror onto said dome.
Because centrally located digital projection systems can be aligned with the pole of the dome, such systems may have less distortion. This can reduce the software, optics, and hardware expense, aiding in full dome coverage. Depending on the projector, central projection may have some color separation. Peripherally located digital projection systems free up the center of the domed space, but may be subject to distortion or gaps in coverage; peripheral projection is more complicated and may require additional software and hardware. Some peripheral systems require multiple projectors for full dome coverage.
Full-dome projection systems are of value in presenting information about the celestial bodies. However, it is difficult to convey to a planetarium audience the relationship between a view of the cosmos projected onto a dome and the location or perspective that such a view represents. The planetarium director is often limited to a verbal or numerical description of the latitude and longitude of an earth based perspective. Further, with non-mechanical systems, the potential for changing the perspective to include non-earth based locations arises, even within a single showing; a particular planetary alignment, for example, may be viewed from a variety of perspectives.
Thus there is the opportunity to improve projection systems by synchronizing the inward and outward projected images, which would enable better visualization. In addition, there is a need for a projection system that enables visualization from a variety of viewpoints. Such a system would be useful also for full-immersive simulations and video beyond application as planetariums, astronomy, or planetary sciences. Aside from clear entertainment value, it is contemplated that such a system would have considerable value for education in geophysics, structural geology, physics (e.g., nuclear particles); chemistry (e.g., atoms, molecules, and nano-structures); biology (e.g., visualization of cells and organelles).